In a proximity-based relay network, there could be one or more network nodes that are interconnected among one another, and any one of the network nodes may function as a relay to forward messages from one location of a network to another location of the network. A network node may connect to another network node through a wireless connection, a coaxial cable, a fiber optical cable, and so forth. In addition, a network node could be an access point which provides Wi-Fi connections to one or more electronic devices. The network node may or may not have internet connect and thus may rely on another network node to access the internet. In that. case, the relay node would need to determine how to forward a message from another network node and how to initiate its own message according to a predetermined mechanism.
Thus, in order for a network node to function as a part of the whole, the network node would be required to operate under a predefined mechanism in order for the proximity-based relay network to maintain an operable network topology. For instance, a network node could be required to maintain a routing table so that the network would know who the neighboring network nodes are and what routes could be available if a message is to be forwarded or initiated. However, assuming that each of the network nodes of a proximity-based relay network is able to initiate its own message and to dump the message into the network at any time, a glut of information may cause the proximity-base relay network to overload. Therefore, one of the important goals in a network design may involve effectively managing the topology of the network in order to reduce the burden of the network.
Also, the mechanism of choosing network routes could be crucial. Typically, when a network node could select from different routes to deliver a message, the network node would select the route having the least number of hops. However, this method of selecting route might not be optimal. For example, under the circumstance in which one or more network nodes are outdoors and thus are not plugged into a power source, there could be problems related to the power level. Also the quality of connections as well as distances among network nodes could also be pertinent. Therefore, a robust mechanism could be in place to determine the selection of network routes.
Moreover, a network node could be suddenly offline or another network node could be suddenly activated. Each network node may need to have a way to find out what network nodes within the proximity-based relay network are offline and what network node are newly activated so that each network node would be able to adapt to new circumstances and react whenever the circumstance changes. If changes to the network topology are not known by the network nodes, then the discrepancies of the routing tables among network nodes may result in network errors which may cause data packets to be lost or mishandled.